National Museums Liverpool Blog - Monday, March 04, 2013

Kaylee Jenkinson tells us more about a new display at the Walker Art Gallery featuring prints by Bridget Riley, Thérèse Lessore, Paule Vezelay, Birgit Skiold and E.C. Austen Brown.

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Friday the 8th of March is International Women’s Day (IWD) – a day for celebrating the achievements of women across the world.

I have been working on 'Women in Print' a new display at the Walker (Room 8) featuring five artists who I have fallen in love with over the past few months! The Walker has a huge collection of works on paper – over 8,000 in fact – many of which are by women artists and have never been on display before. One print from the display, ‘Coffee Bar’ (early 20th Century), was made by Thérèse Lessore who was married to the artist Walter Richard Sickert. Before they were married, Sickert loved her work so much that used to secretly make his friends buy her prints, paintings and porcelain for him – so that he didn’t appear too keen!

On IWD this year, I will be giving two talks (at 1pm and 3pm) about the five women in this display, who have all been important throughout the past 100 years of printmaking. The Walker itself has been very influential in collecting and exhibiting artworks by women artists over time. Although these women may have been forgotten by many people, I hope that this display will make many of you fall in love with them too.

More information on IWD events at National Museums Liverpool here.

I love this fantastic recreation of the Life of Pi poster, spotted on the Empire magazine facebook page. The cat's face makes it for me - I think if I asked my cat to pose like a tiger to recreate a film poster then she would look at me with exactly the same expression!

This reminded me of our own Credit Crunch Art project, in which we asked people to create their own versions of art from National Museums Liverpool's collections. We have had some fantastic entries, which you can see in the Credit Crunch Art Flickr group. Below is my homage to Gainsborough.

We haven't had any entries with pets yet - could any talented dogs out there recreate this Briton Riviere painting from the Lady Lever Art Gallery, I wonder? Have a go and add your Credit Crunch Art to our Flickr group, we'd love to see it!

To celebrate World Book Day on 7 March we've a very special book offer. Something Wild... at the Walker Art Gallery follows Keith and Ali on their adventures around the Gallery. It's a fab book with some lovely illustrations - the type of book kids and adults both love. From Monday 4 to Sunday 10 March you can snaffle a copy for just £1 (usual price £3.99) from any of our venues. 

And as if that wasn't enough, we've also got a weekend of special tie-in events. On Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 March Big Art will be holding special storytelling sessions and craft activities, all linked to the book. And as ever, the events are free. More details on our website.

Paul Finnegan, a member of our Bug House team, has been lucky enough to receive some Death's-head Hawkmoth caterpillars for World Museum. The Death’s-head is the largest moth in the UK with a wingspan of up to six inches and played a starring role in the famous Silence of the Lamb’s movie poster. These fascinating little creatures migrate from North Africa and parts of Europe to the UK each summer. Adult moths make a loud squeaking sound which, prior to the creation of modern bee hives, the moths used to calm angry bees when raiding hives to steal honey! The caterpillars are currently munching their way through privet leaves and when they are about five inches long they will bury themselves in soil to pupate. After around three months the adult moths will emerge and Paul is hoping to breed them. We’ll keep you updated on their progress…  

We’re looking for young explorers to embark on an exciting journey through crafts and drama to discover more about where they live. Young Explorers is a new group for 8-12 year olds who want to learn new skills and make a difference to their surroundings. The project will culminate in designing an artefact that will be exhibited in World Museum. 

The sessions will be on Saturday mornings in March and April at World Museum, check out our What’s On listings for dates and times. 

Hello,

First of all I would like to wish members of the global Guyanese family a Happy Republic Day for tomorrow.  On 23 February 1970 the Forbes Burnham led government proclaimed Guyana, The Co-operative Republic of Guyana and ended Guyana’s constitutional tie to Britain. Guyana though remains a member of the Commonwealth.

The birth of Guyana as a republic is now also closely associated with the annual Mashramani festival or ‘Mash day’, derived from the Amerindian language which according to the Guyanese Ministry of Culture, Youth & Sport means ‘the celebration of a job well done’. The festival has a carnival atmosphere and is one of the most spectacular annual celebrations in Guyana.

As some people already know I am very proud to be of Guyanese descent.  My father was born in Kitty, Georgetown and moved to the UK in the 1950s to join the RAF.  He was a keen cricketer and some of his pictures were used in our Beyond the Boundary exhibition in 2010.  We also have a "Cuffy Dollar" on display - a silver coin commemorating Guyana’s Republican status in 1970, which was kindly donated by my dad.  The face of the coin shows Cuffy, a national hero, who on the  23 February 1763, led what become known as the Berbice Slave Rebellion, an uprising of enslaved Africans against their brutal and degrading living and working conditions under Dutch rule.   So 2013 is 250 years since this momentous event. 

Berbice was a Dutch colony until 1814 when it was ceded to the British and along with Essequibo and Demerara become British Guiana in 1831, governed from Georgetown, previously known as Stabroek.  The Dutch influence is still very visible though, one of the main newspapers is the Stabroek news and New Amsterdam is one of the largest towns.  There is also a clear Liverpool link as the family of William Gladstone, Liverpool born four times Prime Minister, owned sugar plantations in West Demerara such as Vreed-en-Hoop.

I have visited Guyana on several occasions, the last time in 2008 when I presented a paper at the Commonwealth Association of Museums conference, held at Umana Yana in the capital, Georgetown.  As part of the conference delegates also spent two days in the Iwokrama rainforest reserve, located in one of the few pristine rainforests left in the world.  It’s always good to see the family and not only because I get to eat roti and polouri!

Bye for now,
Richard

Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans History Month takes place every year this month. It celebrates the lives and achievements of the LGBT community. A Liverpool Trans pioneer and inspiration, Miss April Ashley MBE, will be the focus of a groundbreaking exhibition at the Museum of Liverpool opening in September.

In partnership with Homotopia, the exhibition will tell the story of April’s life and will explore the significant role she has played in making social and political history in Britain. In detailing April’s life, the project will tell the wider story of social, political and legislative change affecting Trans, LGB and many other people in Britain over the past 70 years, and of the impact April’s story has had on family law and legal definitions of gender and identity.

There is still time to get involved - find out more on the Museum of Liverpool website.

Hurrah for half term! Aside from all the great half term events that are taking place at our venues next week, we are also set for some radio interference across the city from 18 – 22 February.

Waves on the Mersey is a project that has been created by Open the Door Theatre in Education, who are bringing five giant radios into the city to broadcast documentaries about major historical events that have shaped Liverpool’s history.

The documentaries have been created by young people between the ages of 14 and 21, who have researched, interviewed and devised radio shows and plays on each topic. They have also decorated the radios, which will be located at five locations around the city, broadcasting a different documentary every day.

The radios can be found at the Museum of Liverpool, FACT, Albert Dock Liverpool (outside Merseyside Maritime Museum), the Metquarter and Liverpool Cathedral. They will each broadcast the following documentaries between 1 – 3pm every day:

Monday 18 February – The Beatles, 1964
Tuesday 19 February – The Toxteth Riots, 1981
Wednesday 20 February – Hillsborough, 1989
Thursday 21 February – The May Blitz, 1941
Friday 22 February – Pope John Paul II’s visit, 1982

You can also tune into 87.7FM to listen to the documentaries, but if you’re able to visit the giant radios, how about doing a trail of them all and getting a picture with each one?

 

Over the last three months the International Slavery Museum education team have been working with a group of young actors from the Street Life Foundation. The group used the painting by William Windus, 'The Black Boy', on display in the International Slavery Museum, as the starting point for a new play 'The Stowaway' written by group leader, Caroline Ihiekwe.

As part of their research the group worked closely with the education teams at the Maritime Museum and Museum of Liverpool, to find out what everyday life was like in Victorian Liverpool and how it affected children and young people of all classes. Mark, a member of the Street Life acting team, tells us more:

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This is my second show I have had the privilege to perform for Street Life. 'The Stowaway' rehearsals were intense, but I have loved every minute of it. Since October we have rehearsed every Sunday at the International Slavery Museum and now, three months on, have a finished show.

Our performance will be on Tuesday 19 February at 1.30 and 3pm.  Unlike our previous show, we have a lot of group scripted work, which was a challenge for some of us but throughout the creative process the group have grown stronger and stronger and now, eventually, the show is complete. We are also in the process of filming the play in and around the Maritime Museum and Museum of Liverpool, so look out for that exciting film debut to come!

So please everyone come and see a show that has had a lot of time and effort put into it, and see how we have interpreted the William Windus painting, ‘The Black Boy’.